This absurdly moist vegan pumpkin coffee cake is based off of my award-winning pumpkin bread– it’s soft, tender, and filled with a ripple of brown sugar ‘cream cheese’ and a cinnamon spiced crumble on top! You can’t stop after one bite!

vegan pumpkin coffee cake with bite taken out

The pumpkin coffee cake recipe you NEED:

If you’re looking for a treat that’s simple and could easily double as breakfast or a dessert, then this ridiculously moist vegan pumpkin coffee cake recipe is it.

We’re talking tender, soft crumb (that just uses pumpkin- no eggs nor egg replacements!) with a ripple of both gooey pumpkin spice sugar and brown sugar cream cheese (all dairy free!) through the middle. And of course, topped with an iconic crunchy brown sugar pumpkin spice crumble.

pumpkin coffee cake sliced

This coffee cake is a wonderful combination of my iconic vegan coffee cake and pumpkin bread, with a spin off of my blueberry lemon coffee cake and almond croissant coffee cake that use cream cheese fillings.

Next to my apple crumb cake, this is the best way to start a fall morning. Of course, when paired with a pumpkin spice latte!

Ingredients

We’ll need to make both the actual cake batter and the streusel topping. But don’t worry- both the streusel and batter are made from very similar ingredients.

For this vegan coffee cake, you’ll need:

  • Flour: you can use gluten free 1:1 baking flour or all purpose flour here.
  • Granulated sugar & brown sugar: you can also swap in coconut sugar if you’d like this coffee cake to be refined sugar free. A note about sugar, though: if you are truly vegan, please make sure you use vegan-certified organic granulated sugar, as non-organic brands tend to use bone char.
  • Vegan butter: I recommend using Miyoko’s vegan butter; for nut-free, Flora Plant Butter or Earth Balance.
  • Pumpkin spice blend: You can also use a a DIY pumpkin pie spice blend.
  • Pumpkin puree: the pumpkin puree here plays a double role as also substituting in for eggs in traditional baking! No need for any additional binder here! If you’d like to, though, you can substitute in half of the pumpkin with vegan sour cream or vegan dairy free greek yogurt. 
  • Dairy free milk: this can be oat milk, soy milk, almond milk or the like.
  • Leavening agents: this is your baking soda and baking powder.

The streusel topping will consist of just flour, sugar, pumpkin spice blend and vegan butter.

sliced pumpkin coffee cake

How to make pumpkin coffee cake (overview)

For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe. 

You’re just going to love how simple and quick this pumpkin coffee cake is to make. The perfect treat to make right before a weekend brunch or as an easy and cozy fall morning breakfast.

You’ll first want to prepare the pan and get the oven preheated. Then we’ll start by making the streusel first, followed by the coffee cake batter. The reason being is that once the wet ingredients interact with the baking soda and baking powder, the chemical reaction starts.

This means we need to get the batter into the oven as soon as possible! Making the streusel topping first will make sure we minimize the time the batter spends outside of the oven.

Here’s how to make this easy pumpkin coffee cake recipe:

  1. First make the streusel topping, cream cheese batter, and cinnamon sugar filling.These three components will then be set aside.
  2. Next, we’ll make the vegan pumpkin batter. Simply whisk the ingredients together in the order listed below in the recipe card!
  3. Layer the coffee cake: Add half of the batter to the prepared pan, followed by the cream cheese filling, and pumpkin sugar. Then add the remaining batter on top, followed by the streusel topping.
  4. Bake the vegan pumpkin coffee cake. Once baked, you can make the easy two ingredient vegan glaze to go on top! Slice and serve!

Gluten free option:

To easily make this coffee cake gluten free, simply swap in gluten free 1:1 baking flour. I’ve made this recipe with both King Arthur’s Measure for Measure flour.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake FAQs

Can I make my own pumpkin spice blend?

If you don’t have pumpkin spice blend, you can absolutely make your own blend. I would recommend making your own versus just using all cinnamon. If you use all cinnamon, it will taste more like a classic coffee cake over a fall-inspired pumpkin crumb cake. You definitely need the cloves, nutmeg, and ginger!

What can I top this pumpkin coffee cake with?

Simply whisk together powdered sugar and a few drops of dairy free milk for an easy glaze that takes this pumpkin coffee cake to a whole new level!

Why did my coffee cake come out gluey?

This happens when you’ve over-scooped the flour. I recommend using weighted measurements here, but if you don’t have a kitchen scale, definitely check out how to properly measure flour. When measuring flour, always spoon and level, rather than scoop!

bitten coffee cake slice

You are just going to absolutely love this easy vegan pumpkin coffee cake! It’s the perfect vegan fall breakfast recipe that’s full of autumn’s best flavors!

Be sure to leave a rating and review if you’ve tried this recipe. And check out these other vegan pumpkin recipes for more inspiration!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!

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bitten coffee cake slice

MOIST Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake with ‘Cream Cheese’ Ripple

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 10 reviews
  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 75
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 16 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

This absurdly moist vegan pumpkin coffee cake is based off of my award-winning pumpkin bread- it’s soft, tender, and filled with a ripple of brown sugar ‘cream cheese’ and a cinnamon spiced crumble on top! You can’t stop after one bite!


Ingredients

Scale

Brown Sugar Spiced Crumble:

  • 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp ground pumpkin spice blend
  • 3/4 cup (150 g) light brown sugar
  • 5 tbsp (70 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt

Cream Cheese Filling:

Pumpkin Spice Sugar:

  • 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup (37 g) all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin spice blend

Pumpkin Coffee Cake Batter:

  • 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin spice blend
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup (170 g) pumpkin puree
  • 2/3 cup (180 mL) dairy free milk
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the rims of the springform pan.
  2. Make the crumble first: In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix together the crumble ingredients until it resembles a sand like texture. Set aside.
  3. Next, make the cream cheese filling: In another medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to cream together the cream cheese filling ingredients until the cream cheese is fluffy and the ingredients are integrated (about 1-2 minutes). Set aside.
  4. Then make the pumpkin spice sugar: In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin spice sugar ingredients, and set aside.
  5. Now make the pumpkin coffee cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the vegan butter, sugar, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. Then add in the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin spice,  and sea salt. As you’re whisking the dry ingredients, pour in the dairy free milk. Whisk just until the dry ingredients are incorporated with the wet.
  6. Assemble the coffee cake: Spoon half of the pumpkin coffee cake batter into the pan, and spread it to the edges of the pan. Then spoon the cream cheese layer on top, and use an offset spatula to spread the cream cheese to the edges. Next, sprinkle all of the pumpkin spice sugar over the cream cheese filling. Finally, spoon the remaining pumpkin coffee cake batter on top to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the batter.
  7. Bake: Place the springform pan into the oven to bake for 75-77 minutes (it’s a long bake time, but don’t worry- it doesn’t dry out!). Cover the crumble if it looks like it’s browning too fast. Remove the pan from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean and the crumble is lightly golden on top.
  8. Cool: Allow the coffee cake to cool in its pan for 1 hour.
  9. Serve: When ready to serve, carefully remove the walls of the springform pan, and dust with powdered sugar on top. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
  10.  

Notes

*Gluten Free: You can swap in gluten-free 1:1 baking flour (such as King Arthur’s measure for measure) or oat flour. For gluten free flour blends, please use the cup measurements then convert to gram measurements (so if 1 cup of Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF baking flour weighs 148 g per cup, you’ll multiply 148 by 3 cups of flour to yield 444 g for this recipe). If you’re using King Arthur measure-for-measure, however, 1 cup of KA = 1 cup AP flour in weight as well, so you can use 375 g of King Arthur GF measure-for-measure flour. For oat flour, please use the gram measurements rather than the cup measurements (so you would need 3 3/4 cups of oat flour for 375 g). 

Pumpkin spice blend: if you don’t have a blend of pumpkin spice, you can easily making one. Here is a great DIY pumpkin spice blend that I use often.